Plans for a huge new Costco in Gloucester have been submitted to the council and reveal an estimated turnover of £84.7million by 2028.

The American retail giant has applied to redevelop the former Interbrew site off Eastern Avenue into a club warehouse with a petrol station and 250 employees.

The majority of the new warehouse would be filled with racks of goods but would also house a in-house bakery, butchers, opticians, hearing centre and café.

Costco operates a members only subscription model, offering bulk goods at cut prices, aimed mainly at small to large business owners.

Trade members spend on average £129 per visit, compared with average transactions of £24 - £30 at UK supermarkets.

A statement prepared by Firstplan Ltd, on behalf of Costco Wholesale UK Ltd said its outlets outside London each turnover around £61million per annum.

It estimates turnover from the Gloucester store, not including petrol sales, would be up to £84.7million per annum by 2028.

Around 65% of sales would come from trade customers and 35% from individuals.

"Businesses will be able to pass on to their customers the savings resulting from Costco's purchasing power and its very competitive prices," said the statement.

"The wide catchment area from which Costco draws its customers, the limited number of products sold by comparison with a supermarket or department store, and the restricted membership will ensure that there is very little impact on retailers.

"Costco considers that its presence in an area will have positive advantages for the local economy of which small businesses play an important part."

It estimates around £4.2million of sales would be taken away from other stores in Gloucester.

The brownfield site has been vacant since September 2017 and Costco said it would commence development as soon as possible if permission is granted.

News broke last summer that the company had snapped up the land, estimated to be worth £11.8million . Workers were then seen preparing parts of the 11.5 acre parcel of land with fencing and diggers.

The land was previously earmarked for at least two large scale developments which never appeared -including 14 units known as Centric Park.

Costco wants to finally bring it back to life with a warehouse containing 12,800 sqm of floorspace, surrounded by 612 car parking spaces, landscaping, with the access off Eastern Avenue retained and two new accesses created off Chancel Close.

Work to the 5.5 hectare site will also include landscaping and engineering works to excavate and remove drainage, kerb lines and roadway and other associated works.

The opening hours would be Monday to Friday 10am- 8.30pm, Saturday: 9.30am- 7pm and Sunday / Bank Holiday 11am- 5pm.

The proposals have been overwhelmingly well received by locals who said it would be a good use of the site and bring employment and trade to the area.

A consultation by Costco last year garnering 256 responses, 94% of which were supportive, with 1% opposing the scheme due to concerns about traffic impacts.

The planning application said Gloucestershire's employment rate is 80.7%, higher than the national average of 75.7% but Gloucester's is second lowest in the county.

Costco said it will work in partnership with the local authority and job centres to identify unemployment 'hotspots' and hire as many local people as possible.

Roles could vary from front end manager to cashiers, fork lift truck drivers, bakers, cake decorators, tire fitters and audiologists with pay starting at £11.20 per hour.

Costco said the new warehouse will create at least 180 jobs on opening, rising to around 250 jobs within three years.

It said this was a "significant contribution to the number of well-paid jobs in the local economy" in a time of "challenging circumstances".

The application 23/01035/FUL can be viewed on gloucester.gov.uk and has a determination deadline of April 11.

Costco Facts

• Costco Wholesale Corporation opened its first warehouse in 1976.
• It has headquarters near Seattle, Washington and operates 862 warehouse clubs worldwide, employing over 310,000 people.
• It had annual sales of $238billion (£187billion) in 2023.
• As of 2022, it is the fifth largest retailer in the world and ranked #11 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.
• The first UK warehouse club opened in Thurrock in November 1993.
• As of February 2023, Costco has 855 warehouses worldwide with 29 in the UK.
• The average size of Costco warehouse stores is about 146,000sqft
• It employs around 304,000 people, with around 7,580 of those in UK warehouses.
• It has around 123million members
• Annual membership (plus VAT) is £22 for trade and £28 for qualifying individuals. Executive memberships, which give a 2% reward on eligible purchases are £56 for trade and £62 for individuals (plus VAT).